The Louisiana branch of power company Entergy this week filed another lawsuit seeking to recoup ongoing expenses incurred due to the federal government’s breach of its legal mandate to remove spent fuel from the River Bend Station nuclear power plant.
This is the third such lawsuit filed by Entergy Louisiana and its predecessor, Entergy Gulf States. The first two cases resulted in nearly $67 million in judgments against the United States government.
The United States is the sole defendant in the latest complaint, filed Jan. 6 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
As with many similar lawsuits filed by other utilities, the case cites the Department of Energy’s Jan. 31, 1998, deadline to begin accepting used fuel from nuclear power plants for disposal. That date was set in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act. It was then further locked in through separate Standard Contracts between Washington and those nuclear utilities, under which they paid into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund with the understanding that the money would be used to build a permanent repository for their radioactive waste.
The Energy Department has not accepted any used fuel and does not have a repository. Licensing of its planned disposal site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., has been frozen for about a decade, and Congress in recent years has dismissed White House requests to appropriate funds to resume the proceeding.
River Bend Station’s boiling water reactor began producing power in June 1986 and is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate to August 2045. The facility stores used fuel on-site at St. Francisville and continues to generate more of the material.
Entergy is seeking damages to be determined at trial, along with pre- and post-judgment interest, legal fees, and other relief allowed by the court. While the complaint does not include a specific amount, a cover sheet for the lawsuit cites a claim estimate of $35 million.
